Import growth could herald recovery

Ports are busier than usual, signalling good economic times ahead.
Photo: Jim Rice

by
TradeJason Murphy

The strong dollar has sparked a buying binge that has triggered a surge in the goods pouring into the nation’s ports.

The value of trade has risen 7 per cent in Australian dollar terms this year, official statistics released yesterday show. April’s figures dipped 6 per cent below the healthy March result.

Export volumes are very strong, which economists say could be a sign of good economic times ahead.

At the Port of Sydney, a container leaves the port every 15 seconds on average, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The port has moved more than a million full containers in the financial year to date, two-thirds of which were imports. Total container trade is 5.7 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Port of Sydney data shows China is by far the biggest source of its containers, sending 275,000 full boxes. The next biggest source was Hong Kong with 26,000.

The Port of Melbourne, Australia’s biggest, is also busy.

Port of Melbourne April import data will be released today and will show that imports of containers for the financial year to date are up 6.3 per cent.

At least half of those containers are full of goods bound for shops. Clothing imports through the port are up 10 per cent. Automotive imports fell because of the impact of the Japan crisis.

Related Quotes

Company Profile

“Exports are none too shabby, either," said Port of Melbourne chief executive
Stephen Bradford
. They are up 8.1 per cent for the financial year to date, due in main part to good rain helping agricultural exports.

Mr Bradford said companies that worked on the wharves – including
Asciano
, Patrick and DP World – were flat out.

They were used to 6 per cent average growth a year, which meant adding trucks, squeezing more containers onto trucks and working on productivity per crane.

There had been “a blip" for the global financial crisis, but “we’re back", Mr Bradford said. “We are back on those averages."

The most recent data from the Port of Brisbane confirms the trend in Sydney and Melbourne. It has seen full container imports rise 6 per cent for the year to date.

Imports of capital goods rose by $489 million or 12 per cent in April. UBS economist George Tharenou said it was good news.

“If you are looking for signs of a pick-up in the domestic economy one of the earliest ones is capital imports," he said.

“A lot of the investment businesses in Australia do, is derived from imported capital goods."

The average value of the Australian dollar in the 12 months to April 2011 was US96.2¢, up from US87.5¢ in the 12 months before that.

Official imports statistics show an economy hungry for energy, materials and consumer products.

Imports of mineral fuels and related products jumped 18 per cent to $32 billion in the 12 months to April from $27 billion in the previous 12 months.

Machinery and transport equipment was the biggest single category. It grew from $78 billion to $82 billion.